Lots more water on our visit Des '07. Saw people trying to cross to the far left of the hide - watched them for quite a while through our bino's. Quite scary - they eventually got accross but was at some stage nearly submerged!

Hi Jakkalsbessie,Thank You for the great photos of the Treetop Walk. When I go in September I'll know what to expect. I read someone's report that the birds are a little too far for photos. We'll see. Oh yes, there is a tree to the left in your first photo where I made reservations for an LIT.

RayK wrote:Hi Jakkalsbessie,Thank You for the great photos of the Treetop Walk. When I go in September I'll know what to expect. I read someone's report that the birds are a little too far for photos. We'll see. Oh yes, there is a tree to the left in your first photo where I made reservations for an LIT.

Pleasure Ray, you will have a great time Sometimes the birds are very close (specially if there is not a lot of water) and they are right down in front of you... we have seen Yellow-billed Egret, Marsh & Wood Sandpiper, Greater Painted Snipe, Black-winged Stilt, Reed Cormorant, White-fronted Bee-Eater, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Three-banded Plover very close (to name but a few)

I really hope your LIT will be there... although it might be a eensy weensy bit to close for MY liking

We visited in December 08 and took some decent bird pictures with my Olympus 550 UX. It has an 18X digital zoom. When I figure out how I'll post one. There were fallen trees very close to the hide on the edge of the river bed, plus small pools of water close by with water birds wading. So plenty of opportunities to see birds close to the hide. We met some serious birders there who said they had seen over 350 different species in just a few days.

It is indeed a magnificent viewsite; one of the benches is perfectly positioned to see in all directions. A 1000mm lens would be an advantage - some of the sightings are very far - but as others have pointed out, a lesser lens will still get magnificent photos for you. I saw an elephant just below the level of the walk, which was both scary and stimulating as I'm sure he could have reached upwards and accosted us if he so chose!We sat there for over an hour, and both mammals and birds were in abundance.

onewithnature wrote:I saw an elephant just below the level of the walk, which was both scary and stimulating as I'm sure he could have reached upwards and accosted us if he so chose!We sat there for over an hour, and both mammals and birds were in abundance.

Thanks for all your wonderful photographs of the park. Can't wait to get there. Plan to camp at Mazhou.

Need some advice on how many days to stay there. I don't have a 4 X 4 - am driving volvo V70 so does have slightly better ground clearance than the average sedan. Have read that there are 35km suitable for sedan vehicles. Will happily spend one day Maloutswa watching the game go by.

Hi RobynanneYou will enjoy Mazhou, Its not essential to have a 4x4. It does offer you more options though. There are many roads to travel with a normal car, both on the east and western sections. If it has rained heavily you may be limited to the eastern section though. I would think that 4 nights is a good length of stay, all depends on what you like doing during the day. You can spend a whole day in the campsite alone and see lots of things.

Hi Dave -Thanks for the reply. Was going to spend 3 nights - so perhaps should extend to 4. Will be spending the 3 nights prior to that at Mashatu doing a photography workshop so sure that I will be feeling inspired to spend even more time in the bush.Do you by any chance know how long it takes to drive down to Marakele from Mapungubwe? Don't want to go back on the N1.thanks